Today’s Twitter Tuesday band is In Codes hailing from Calgary, Alberta. The trio is comprised of Noel Napalm, Casey Adam and Riot Mumby. Equal parts upbeat pop and brooding dark side, In Codes uses their loves, lives and fears as ammunition for their songs and clandestinely plants hooks in your head while you’re not looking. The have recently released their […]

Today’s CoverBack Thursday is a successful Canadian rock band Arkells covering an emerging Canadian singer-songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr. Today we will share the cover plus the original in case you are not familiar with Tobias Jesso Jr. Jesso’s original version is tracked behind piano and Arkells offer a nice acoustic guitar and piano laden version of “Can’t Stop Thinking About You” […]

The Unravelling is for all of you fans out there that love the likes of Tool, Nine Inch Nails and the much underrated Porcupine Tree. In 2010 the Calgary based duo comprised of Gustavo de Beauville and Steve Moore released 13 Arcane Hymns which was well received in the heavy metal/rock world. After taking a hiatus due to vocalist Steve […]

Grounders are a Toronto based quartet that are creating an awesome mix of 60s psych which reminds of current rockers Tame Impala and melodic 60s legends The Zombies. Their new track Drawing Space has that feel good dreamy and harmonious vibe with just the right amount of lo-fi reverb. Grounders is comprised of Andrew Davis (vocals and guitar), Daniel Busheikin (keyboards), Mike Searle (bass), […]

Steve Benjamins is making some downtempo indie pop. He is a talented fellow, playing almost all of the instruments on all of his EPs and is the sole songwriter. The Toronto based artist is a bit reminiscent vocally of James Blunt, but is producing his own unique style of music His voice reels you in and his new track “We […]

We don’t know much about Afrakite, except that the one and so far only single posted online is pretty sweet. The solo artist is from Montreal and has created a beautiful and soulful sound with the single “Grown Apart”. The track is pretty awesome, soaring and expansive for being completely self produced and we look forward to hearing more. We […]

It never fails that literally the week after the SXSW festival, a new band is discovered and of course they were just at the festival. Yukon Blonde is one of those bands. Yukon Blonde first assembled in Kelowna, British Columbia as Alphababy and later reinvented themselves as Yukon Blonde in 2008. They have released two previous albums – their self-titled debut […]

I have been impressed recently by a few solo artists out there creating really new and different sounds. I have added Plastic Handgun to that list. Plastic Handgun is the project of Mark Di Giovanni, who is based in Toronto. With his release of Involuntary Memories last month, he is experimenting with rock, electronic music, a tinge of shoegazey reverb all while layering […]

This year, there will be several new albums coming from Canada’s northern territories. One of them is from Mary Caroline, who resides near the great Canadian northcity of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. Actually, she lives 600 kilometers north from the capital city, living in a remote trapper’s cabin that is just below the Arctic Circle. Now you might be […]

There is an increasing number of musicians and bands who are bucking the trend of being categorized under a single genre. They’re moving seamlessly between pop, rock, hip hop, R&B, synth-pop, dream-pop, electronica, folk, and you name it. Some have done it with varying degrees of success while others are still trying to find that sweet spot. For Winnipeg’s Royal […]

I love finding out about great new bands, being able to do a Q&A and reviewing their recently released EP all at once.  That great new band for me today is Maybelleen who are from Montréal and are comprised of Peter and Charles Camiré, a young brother duo. The boys have been raised surrounded by the music of their dad, a […]

From the first sound of the rhythmic drum beat that eventually cascades into the shimmering sounds of a synth on opener “Newspaper Spoons”, it became immediately evident that Viet Cong‘s self-titled, debut album was something different yet something very special and personal. The concise first track is an introduction to the world of Viet Cong, one that is filled with […]

Vancouver based singer songwriter Dan Mangan’s music has been evolving sense his debut acoustic based self titled EP and first full-length LP, Postcards and Daydreaming.  Gone is the straight acoustic singer songwriter replaced with a more nuanced approach with true collaboration with his excellent backing band, Blacksmith. Dan has said that Club Meds is a team album with the band and that is exactly […]

There aren’t too many albums that when I first put on and I say, “F#@* yeah!”, but the sophomore album by Vancouver’s Spoon River made me utter those words. Why The New Sun AHHHHH Hotel did not receive more buzz outside of Vancouver is a mystery, but it’s an album that is fun, energetic, and a just a real treat. The album, which […]

Born in Russia, her talent fostered in Tel Aviv, and now residing in Vancouver, Elza is an emerging singer-songwriter in the mold of Natalie Merchant, My Brightest Diamond, and Tori Amos. Her five-track, debut EP, Glories, is a haunting yet stunning album. It’s highlighted by “Pace“, which starts off subtly before builds and builds to its climax just as the protagonist […]

Toronto’s Soft Wounds are a young quartet who make shoegaze-y indie music. Similar to Brooklyn’s Crystal Stilts and Porcelain in their approach, Soft Wounds have released their first demo, which, while not surprisingly is a bit rough around the edges, shows tremendous promise. There is a dreamy quality to their shoegaze indie rock, which is best captured on the extended […]

Canadian/Swedish singer-songwriter Sarah MacDougall recently released a stirring, brilliant new track, “I Want to See the Light (Lost from Our Eyes)”. The indie-folk track echoes the sound and magnetism found on Marta Pacek‘s terrific Voodoo Dolls False Alarms and the alluring qualities of Orenda Fink’s Blue Dream. “I Want to See the Light” is the first single from MacDougall’s forthcoming […]

  The award-winning, Toronto indie band, The Strumbellas, are set to play Mavericks on Friday, December 12. I spoke with lead singer Simon Ward to get some insight on how 2014 was for them and on what we can expect in 2015. KSP: Simon, you just won a Canadian Folk Music Award for contemporary album of the year and earlier this year […]

I first met Kate Weekes in mid-October. It was still dark outside as I pulled up to her parents’ house in Ottawa around 6:45 am. She needed a ride to Toronto to attend a music conference and since I was driving down, I offered a lift. She had just come back from the Yukon where she’d been living for more than a decade. […]

On 49 Above, we tried to focus on bands from small cities and towns across Canada, but there are also some great, up-and-coming bands from major urban centres, such as Toronto. Terrorista are a two-piece, lo-fi, post-punk band comprising of Sam Hargrove (guitar, vocals) and Rich Taylor (drums and backup vocals). They’ve been together for a couple of years, and […]